Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

127 reviews

jessicalarson125's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, and Blood

Moderate: Self harm and Alcohol

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Vomit

epeolatrist's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I can't believe I convinced myself into starting this book at 1 am. I won't lie and say that I'm not easily scared (because I am), but horror novels typically don't rattle me. A Head Full of Ghosts, however, had me on sleeping with the lights on. The novel is as terrifying as it is mysterious--throughout the entire story I couldn't tell whether Marjorie was genuinely possessed or simply an extremely ill teenage girl who needed help. It kept me on my toes while I read every page. It's impressive, to me, to read writing that gives no hints as to what is true and what is not until the end. There were moments when I predicted whether Marjorie's actions were demonic or schizophrenic, but each time I decided, I would change my mind.

I really enjoyed A Head Full of Ghosts (even if it kept me from sleeping). It was a fast and interesting read that scared me to my core. I'm not sure why I thought it would be a good idea to read this in my 100-year old childhood home which I've always thought it to be "haunted" (but can you blame me for having an overactive imagination when I read books like this?) I won't spoil the ending for you, but I was amazed at how Paul Tremblay was able to make my jaw drop all the way to the floor. I genuinely loved this one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Vomit, Death of parent, and Self harm

k20m13d's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Drug use, Death of parent, Child abuse, Murder, Suicide, and Blood

musicmenagerie's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Not as scary as I thought it would be, but thought-provoking. And, the ending really shocked me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Suicide, Child abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Death, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Child death

Moderate: Body horror, Vomit, Blood, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Excrement, Alcohol, Addiction, Death, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail, and Cursing

caramelcaylee's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Death, Vomit, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Mental illness, Violence, Gore, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Body horror

frankieatthedisco's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

dale1997's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Murder, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Vomit, and Religious bigotry

smileysam's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I want to start off by saying I often see this book described as a super scary and disturbing horror novel (which was initially what brought me to reading it) and it’s not. To me, this novel is moreso sad and gut wrenching than scary. It’s less paranormal possession horror and more real life, mental illness, and family splitting ‘horror’. 

I will say, it felt real. I liked the story being told from an unreliable, naive narrator. It felt plausible, like it could happen to any one of us. I initially didn’t mind the blog entries - I did feel like they pulled me out of the story, but not necessarily in a bad way (not until the third one, anyway). I liked the supposed outsider POV and the foreshadowing we got from them.

I do wish, though, that the poisoning of the family was moreso alluded to than outright told to us in the third blog post. I feel like it could’ve create much more tension if it was brought up in Merry’s descriptions to begin with.

All in all, I would say the first 2 parts of this book were fantastic. Where it began to lose me was part 3. The pacing seemed to change and became too fast. Everything seemed to happen and more or less resolve instantly as it was brought up. I wish the third part could’ve maintained the same atmosphere and pacing and story telling that the other two had. I would say this book is worth a read, though. I did enjoy it, it just was not quite what I was expecting or hoping for. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Murder, Mental illness, Child death, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

lata's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Holy shit, that was pretty sad. AND THE END... WHAT?! the start was boring, but the third part of the book compensates that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Body horror, Excrement, Sexism, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Self harm

evanaviary's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

maybe the real demons were the friends we made along the way

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Child death, Death, Death of parent, and Mental illness

Minor: Suicide attempt